life in general….

Monthly Archives: July 2012

This whole Olympic thing is very exciting. And boring. Thank goodnes for remotes, coz you just change the channel. For example I don’t want to watch wrestling, or javelin or weight lifting.

Yesterday I flicked over to weight lifting and the size of the one woman’s thighs were massive. Unattractively so. I’m sure that when she’s nonchalantly walking through the gym she has the respect an awe of all inside the building. I get that. I respect that these sports men and women are at their peak. But does it make me want to watch them. Sometimes no.

I really thought that the SAwomen’s hockey team could have put on a little mascara, or a touch of lipstick. That Revlon makes the most amazing Colourstay lipstick in an array of colours. It lasts for 18 hours. They could have applied it that morning, warmed up, played their game, looked fab for the camera’s and still had some on for there meal that night. Bob’s your uncle!

I’m very proud of South African Gold Olympian Swimmer, Cameron van der Burgh. Well done my boy. I personally enjoyed watching you on that little podium, gold medal around your neck, and smiling through the National Anthem. It was as if your joy was to big to contain and your smile kept spilling out the corners of your mouth. So lovely to watch happiness so big, so radiant.

PS The cooking course this weekend was fun. Lots of laughs. Helped along with a bit of caramel vodka….

P.P. S Watched Magic Mike this weekend. Revolting is all I can say. Strippers gyrating in women’s faces is not my scene. Greasy, shiny bodies with matching greasy hair, is gross. There were brief scenes with threesomes, drugs and vomiting that left me cold and bored.I’m definately picking up a trend with this movie, that women are perhaps seeking sexual fulfillment and that is why 50 Shades and this movie have had so much publicity.

In a nutshell, perhaps this whole trend of metro sexual males is blowing up in their faces and women feel the need for the Return of the Masculine Man to take them and pin them against the wall and give them 5 Straight Shots Against The Wall.

Don’t you think that’s an excellent title for a book in the Mommy Porn genre, 5 Straight Shots Against the Wall?

This is what we are learning to cook tonight on the Corden Bleu cooking course. The course begins at 4:30pm and goes on all night. We bring our own wine/drinks and cook the night away. A busy kitchen full of ten friends, no kids, no husbands and a full on Dessert Buffet to round the evening off. Fk me, sounds like bliss…..

Starters

Home-made rolls topped with three cheeses

Brushetta topped with olive oil, pesto and parmesan

Springbok carpacio with parmesan, olive oil and pesto

Spinach, courgette and feta cheese tart

Cream of tomato and basil soup

Main course buffet

Lamb loin chops

~Loin chops, flambéed with basting and served with a flavoured butter sauce~

The aloes are all flowering at the moment. It looks beautiful. Aloes are to the Eastern Cape what fynbos and Table Mountain is to Cape Town. It’s home. or Ishaka is to Durbs. or what the Hillbrow Tower is to Jozi.

Thorn Tree, an Aloe and a Blesbuck, and I’m home. Senses reeling me in like a homing pigeon.

It’s naff I know to post about Aloes. But it’s close to home and it’s South African. and it’s me.

Besides…

as a friend reminded me the other day…Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Leonardo da Vinci

The view from my kitchen window. I often see a duiker or two grazing when things are quiet and still.

Even though I’m trying to act nonchalantly, I was completely flattered by my favourite blogger http://reluctantmom.wordpress.com/ mentioning me in her blog post today. Why? ‘coz she’s a cool blogger. She makes me laugh. I think I pee-ed in my pants once from laughing. She pisses me off too sometimes. But that’s a story for another day and it’s only happened once and was shortlived. http://reluctantmom.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/no-seriously-what-the-hell-is-in-pritt/ That’s good, I promise you. It’s not great to feel indifferent to someone. Reactions are AWESOME, ‘coz it means you’re ALIVE and kicking. My biggest fear is for someone to find me boring, the Mayor of Dullsville in the County of Predictability.

So I’ll include the Logo Award in my blog post:

and then I’ll mention 7 Random things about myself:

For the first time in my life, my weight is starting to dictate my actions. It’s making me feel insecure and I hate feeling like that and I want to STOP feeling like that.

I want another baby so badly. Another 2-3 babies. But I’m frightened ‘coz of Molls being cerebral palsy.

I dislike rude people that have no manners and behave arrogantly. I want to punch them in the mouth, so their lip swells and blood trickles down their chin. Fckers!

I’m creative. I love art and being around people that make me see things in a different way. People that make me think and stimulate me intellectually.

This blog is a means of practising writing in preparation for the book I’m going to write one day. A story about the life and times of Nonkoliseko Yabo, my Molls’ fabulous and bossy nanny. A truly remarkable woman. I can’t recall any book that documents the history or life of a Xhosa woman growing up in the rural Eastern Cape in the fifties and sixties.

At the moment I’m growing and hopefully will reap a fine crop of Oyster Mushrooms. Here’s holding thumbs. All my friends have had the most amazing success from these little boxes.

So something different to look forward to and my little chap has taken it on as his own project.

Yesterday I mentioned that I have my cooking mojo back. It is. Totally back. With bells and whisk in hand. I’m cooking again, Even planted out another two mini herb gardens. Only short of basil as it’s not in season. Yes!!! I know one can find it at Woolies and all, but I’m talking home-grown stuff here people! Little seeds sprinkled onto a patch of soil , watered into a sizable crop to transplant. We live in a frost area, so I have to wait.

I planted spinach, beetroot, broccoli, cauli’s, carrots, brussels sprouts(!), and a whole lot of other vegies. My family enjoys brussels sprouts. I’ve never made a scene about them and they’ve eaten them. Sorry to brag, but my kids eat everything. My friend Lizette once told me, that if your kids don’t like something, just leave it and serve it to them again another day. Don’t put labels on them.

There is, however, one thing that Aidan and Molls don’t like and that is mushrooms. They really don’t like them. They have to be disguised in sauces, and in a dish of some kind. I will persevere though.

Last year, on a completely spontaneous whim, I rushed out and bought white plates of different shapes and sizes. I put them in the cupboard and forgot about them until a few months ago. It’s amazing how these little plates, that are quirky, have inspired me to serve my food, more aesthetically pleasing. Just a twist, to serve something boring in a different dish, just makes it exciting again.

So from my happy warm kitchen to your hopefully happy kitchen..I wish you happy cooking and as my mom always says: “you can see that this was cooked with love!”

happiest moment today: A bloggy friend has had excellent news with regards to her fertility treatment. HOLDING THUMBS C.B.!!!!!

biggest ball ache of today: I have to catch up on our books/VAT (fkkkkkkk!!)

most annoying moment: when John slurped his coffee this morning

favourite love: John, that boy still makes me laugh after 20 years, since 5 Aug 1992 to be exact, when we were a mere 19yrs of age.

looking forward to: this awesome cooking course, myself and 9 other girlfriends are going to this weekend at a Corden Bleu cooking school. so excited. oh yes and the trout fishing ladies festival in September…….whoo hoo.(MY COOKING MOJO IS BACK!!)

Yesterday Pandora’s box was ripped open again. You know, so wide open, that you see the black, dark, ugly things in life.

Saturday’s dreadful bus accident outside Cradock was horrific. I found out yesterday morning that my good friend’s sister’s little boy was killed. 10 years old. Killed instantly. The irony was, was that this was the first time his mom allowed him to go to a Sports match in the bus. She usually took him. This time she allowed hime to go on the bus and then by pure flook, he was killed. Along with the headmaster.

What is the sense in that? Where is the sense in all this? When you don’t know the people involved in a tragedy, you remain detached, ‘coz you know, we live in South Africa and you hear horrific things all the time. But, when it’s someone you know,it puts it all in perspective. The pain, the anger, the pure tragedy of losing a little boy. Just 3 years older than my little boy.

May God bless them and comfort them in their pain and the horrific road they have ahead. May his little brother, his Mom and Dad find comfort in You and someday have peace and acceptance in their souls from this terrible tragedy.